CAROLE ANN MOLETIhttps://caroleannmoleti.info
Petite Meets Street: Real Life in Real TimeThu, 14 Dec 2017 02:28:48 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/https://novelfuninthesummersun.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/cropped-cropped-walkinggraffiti1.jpg?w=32CAROLE ANN MOLETIhttps://caroleannmoleti.info
3232FACT AND FICTION INTERSECT: AGAINhttps://caroleannmoleti.info/2017/11/23/fact-and-fiction-intersect-again/
https://caroleannmoleti.info/2017/11/23/fact-and-fiction-intersect-again/#respondFri, 24 Nov 2017 04:23:41 +0000http://caroleannmoleti.info/?p=627]]>Fact and fiction intersect. I am participating in National Novel Writing Month. Boulevard of Bad Spells and Broken Dreams is set in The Bronx–and in Puerto Rico. The genre is urban fantasy, which adds magic and supernatural elements to modern urban settings. Odd coincidence that I am now awaiting word of deployment on a medical relief mission to the devastated Isla Encantada. Ethnographic research is the fancy term for boots on the ground. And mine are about to get down and dirty.

Here’s what I came up with for a pivotal scene in the novel. It might be cut, or edited, but once again, I’m immersing myself in fact to write fiction.

Humans are very stupid, and we have some very stupid and immoral specimens in power now. You are only one of the leaders with the power to incite others to join with you–each has his or own area to control. This island will rebound, become lush and green and joyful again. Listen, hear the music already? You are una boriqueña, you know what it means to love the ground you walk on, the air you breathe, the calls of el coquí, the kiss of the blue waters and white sands on your skin. It takes more courage to leave than to stay–but you did will fight from afar for La Isla. Las caracoles have spoken, and it will come to pass.

Once again, I find myself in the middle of NaNoWriMo, and was keeping up with writing every day when real life intruded. I got my start writing creative nonfiction trying to make sense of and add perspective to my real life experiences. But it got so hard to keep running into walls, and writing speculative fiction lets me walk through them, which is a lot less painful.

I begin weekdays with a five thirty am alarm, a hellish commute, and days full of heartbreaking tales of neglect, poverty, trauma and the aftermath. I love my work, but after eight to twelve hours, five days a week, doing anything but collapsing when I get home is usually impossible. NaNoWriMo has always been helpful to make progress on stalled projects. And this one, a gritty urban fantasy set in the South Bronx with Puerto Rican characters, fell way behind schedule while I…

When I finished Breakwater Beach, I never intended to write a sequel, never mind two. But Mike and Liz weren’t letting go of their lease on life, and the story premise for The Widow’s Walk popped into my head. It took about another year for me to get the second one done, about fifteen months later Storm Watch was complete.

I’ve been on the marketing bandwagon for the Unfinished Business series for three years, and since these books were in the same world, branding was consistent and I could spend time marketing and writing without too much effort. But though there are stirring of a possible fourth book, it is time for me to move on to other projects–my urban fantasy series in particular.

The current wisdom is for writers to keep going on a series, because one book helps sell the others. It has taken several months to pull…

]]>https://caroleannmoleti.info/2017/10/25/marketing-a-series-when-to-move-on/feed/0caroleannmoletiMy Thoughts Are With Puerto Rico by Stacy Hoffhttps://caroleannmoleti.info/2017/09/29/my-thoughts-are-with-puerto-rico-by-stacy-hoff/
https://caroleannmoleti.info/2017/09/29/my-thoughts-are-with-puerto-rico-by-stacy-hoff/#commentsFri, 29 Sep 2017 23:11:05 +0000http://caroleannmoleti.info/2017/09/29/my-thoughts-are-with-puerto-rico-by-stacy-hoff/Nights of Passion: Photo above: Hurricane Maria over Puerto Rico, from the National Hurricane Center. My personal relationship with Puerto Rico started when I was five years old. My mother took me on a trip to visit Condado Beach. I was a New York City kid and this was my first trip…]]>

Thanks for sharing. I have very fond memories of my visit to PR two years ago. I have signed up to go down with a team my employer is sending on a medical mission and hope I’m selected.

Photo above: Hurricane Maria over Puerto Rico, from the National Hurricane Center.

My personal relationship with Puerto Rico started when I was five years old. My mother took me on a trip to visit Condado Beach. I was a New York City kid and this was my first trip out of the country. I was so entranced by Puerto Rico I still have some memories of it. Mental images of our playing in the sand, laughing, swimming, and eating at the hotel where we stayed. That trip was so wonderful, we repeated it—several times.

When I got married, my husband joined my mother and I. When he turned forty, my gift to him was one more trip there. (As an amazing coincidence, where I stayed with him on that trip, The Marriott Hotel Stellaris, is actually depicted right in the book cover of my latest novel. It’s the large brown…

I just wrapped up the in person events on my annual Novel Fun in the Summer Sun book tour, and am looking forward to enjoying time on Cape Cod with my family. But I haven’t had a real vacation for over ten years. Can a writer ever really take time off?

Writing every day siphons off a tremendous amount of focus and energy from other activities–and losing the momentum slows down the creative process and makes it harder to re start. Besides the ideas and story opportunities that pop into my head, everyday intrusions open up in my inbox. Then there are family events and obligations and everyday tasks. I have a mega re-credentialing to complete for work–meaning hundreds of pages of reading and on-line testing to document continuing clinical competency.

I love my flexible and attenuated summer work schedule, but that will come to an end in about three…

The rally began at 4 pm. Most of us where there by 3, knowing we’d have to negotiate the barricades and pens around Trump Tower. Indeed, we were penned about two blocks north. There may not have been a huge crowd, 500+ were expected, but we were loud. Had to be. The Red Hats were there and the fifteen or so of them, including the cute blond cheerleader in the dress down to there and up to here. Rabid, crossing the street, getting in our faces and in our pen, screaming threats and threatening to have us locked up. And the cops kept us safe.

The March, which first stopped in Times Square and picked up a few tourists and New Yorkers who joined us for a while, then headed from 6th down to 9th Avenue toward Union Square. The favored chants, or the ones that bounced off the surrounding buildings and had the vast majority of drivers, diners and passersby giving the thumbs up were:

“No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA!”

“Everybody knows Trump and Pence have got to go!”

What was different about this March was that it was on the sidewalks, which made it easier to engage with people along the way. Not all were supportive of our message. And they were angry, but not violent. One woman exhorted us to have more respect for the office of the President, and for the military. Well, the President has no respect for anyone, or the law, or the Constitution. And there were plenty of veterans there to remind her that if any of them had colluded with Russia, they’d be in prison.

Then there was the woman who wanted less government. Instead, we have government tho is trying to interfere with the most personal thing: health care, particularly for women. Then there was the nasty ass who had a sign “Please self deport.” Sir, most of us are Americans. Perhaps the fact they were African American, Hispanic or wearing headscarves was all you could relate to. These women seemed fearful, until they were secure in the middle of the crowd, then they smiled.

We left the Red Hats on their shady side of the street and had a police escort along the entire route to ensure our safety and keep traffic moving at the same time. One Red Hat wound up in the middle of us at one point, but he was pleasantly chatting with someone so it was all good.

We proudly exercised our first amendment rights, which include:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Yes, Jeanine Pirro, A JUDGE, (WHOSE EX-HUSBAND WAS SENT TO JAIL FOR TAX FRAUD AMONG OTHER THINGS ) posted this on Facebook:

“These protests are getting OUT OF HAND…. Time to call out the National Guard and SHUT them down.”

Pirro was once an exemplary Westchester District Attorney and a staunch advocate for victims’ rights, particularly abused women and children and sexual assault survivors. WTF happened?

Refuse Fascism has not blocked or deleted any of the hateful posts like Pirro’s and her “friends” on their page. Because free speech is free speech, and everyone deserves their say. From my experience, the only people who need to be SHUT Down is this crew, for everyone’s safety.

Don’t worry about New Yorkers, Jeanine. I’m not calling you Judge Pirro because a real judge should know better. You have no respect for the Constitution and should have your ass disbarred. The NYPD has everything under control. Besides, NYC is out of your jurisdiction. Which these days is, of course, Fox News Channel where you host ‘Justice with Judge Jeanine.’ That’s WTF happened.

]]>https://caroleannmoleti.info/2017/07/21/resist-the-nyc-impeachment-march/feed/0caroleannmoletiNYPD6thBlueWall9thAvesmileontheinside.jpgAlltogehternow2AlltogethernowAlltogethernow3RedHats IMPleaseselfdeportInfiltratorsNeverMindCarole Ann Moleti visits, talking about “Storm Watch”https://caroleannmoleti.info/2017/07/14/carole-ann-moleti-visits-talking-about-storm-watch/
https://caroleannmoleti.info/2017/07/14/carole-ann-moleti-visits-talking-about-storm-watch/#respondSat, 15 Jul 2017 02:24:34 +0000http://caroleannmoleti.info/2017/07/14/carole-ann-moleti-visits-talking-about-storm-watch/Ryan Jo Summers: I am very pleased to have fellow author, Carole Ann Moleti, visit. I love the title and cover of her latest novel, “Storm Watch”, book three of the Unfinished Business series. The official genre is Light Paranormal Romance. It has some spice, open door sex scenes, but no erotic.…]]>

I am very pleased to have fellow author, Carole Ann Moleti, visit. I love the title and cover of her latest novel, “Storm Watch”, book three of the Unfinished Business series. The official genre is Light Paranormal Romance. It has some spice, open door sex scenes, but no erotic. The author tells me there is minimal foul language.

Thanks so much for hosting me today. Storm Watch is the third book in the series, which I started writing as short story I called Unfinished Business, back in 2006. That initial piece was published in Haunted: Ten Tales of Ghosts. Truly unfinished, it was the middle of the story, and I was encouraged to “novelize” it by adding the backstory for Liz and Elisabeth, which became Breakwater Beach. Then I wrote forward to expand on Mike and Jared’s stories. Storm Watch

]]>https://caroleannmoleti.info/2017/07/14/carole-ann-moleti-visits-talking-about-storm-watch/feed/0caroleannmoletiFOLLOW ME is a Kindle Exclusive Romance!https://caroleannmoleti.info/2017/07/08/follow-me-is-a-kindle-exclusive-romance/
https://caroleannmoleti.info/2017/07/08/follow-me-is-a-kindle-exclusive-romance/#respondSat, 08 Jul 2017 19:44:20 +0000http://caroleannmoleti.info/2017/07/08/follow-me-is-a-kindle-exclusive-romance/mary beth bass books: ? FOLLOW ME is a Kindle Exclusive Romance Book Deal for the entire month of July! Get it here for just 99 cents! Claire Islington, blessed with a perfect life, is torn between her fiancé and a phantom lover from nineteenth-century England who awakens a passion in her like she…]]>

FOLLOW ME is a Kindle Exclusive Romance Book Deal for the entire month of July! Get it here for just 99 cents!

Claire Islington, blessed with a perfect life, is torn between her fiancé and a phantom lover from nineteenth-century England who awakens a passion in her like she has never known. Her soul echoes the refrain, “Love is enough,” and yearns for a long-denied fulfillment. But to follow is to follow a ghost: across the sea, to another land, to another time and a point where lives collide.

]]>https://caroleannmoleti.info/2017/07/08/follow-me-is-a-kindle-exclusive-romance/feed/0caroleannmoleti#Resist #ImpeachTrump #DutyToWarnhttps://caroleannmoleti.info/2017/07/03/resist-neverthelessshepersisted-impeachtrump-dutytowarn/
https://caroleannmoleti.info/2017/07/03/resist-neverthelessshepersisted-impeachtrump-dutytowarn/#respondTue, 04 Jul 2017 01:41:30 +0000http://caroleannmoleti.info/?p=372]]>The Impeachment Rally in NYC on July 2 was one of the most vocal, and confrontational that I have attended. There were only about 1000 people, maybe less, protesting Trump, But the six Trump supporters became rabid once they realized how outnumbered they were. The guy with the Trump 2020 flag is at every rally and he never gets in anyone’s face. He and I had a brief conversation yesterday, and I told him I gave him a lot of credit for getting in the middle of these massive protests. We even shook hands before he dismissed me from the Trump pen with a flick of his royal ass wrist (the cops wanted me out of there, too). But things got ugly once the Red Hats arrived and one had to be removed from our pen by the cops. The African American man, who bears a strong resemblance to the doorman I’ve passed when walking the circle around Trump Tower, was screaming “Lock her up!” at me. The venom on his face was disturbing, as were the other maniacs trying to make their voices heard over the very loud honks of support from cars and tourists on buses passing by.

The resistance marchers are peaceful, always. There are children and elderly folks there, and I worry when situations like this occur. Even the signage at this rally was a bit raw, a sign that this is rising to the level needed raise the volume to a decibel level our legislators will hear and finally do what they need to get Trump out of office and into psychiatric care.

I have said this more than once. If a patient came into my office exhibiting the behaviors this so-called president does, I would have to exercise my “duty to warn” and contact the police. Trump’s words and actions indicate he is a danger to others, with little or no impulse control, threatening gestures and words, and menacing actions. His latest barrage of tweets indicate his anger is escalating and that no one can control him. Even is staff are saying the applaud the fact that Trump uses Twitter to “connect with the American people?” Anyone else who was tweeting like he does would have their accounts suspended for abuse and threats. Why has that not been done?

Trump is a man out of control, and he has the power to start a nuclear war. He is wiping out decades of civil rights advances, decimating health care, the environment, our natural resources, and our National Parks. He is not only an embarrassment to the United States, he is a danger to our allies who are struggling with their own terrorism problems. If there is a successful attack on the US, it will be because of Trump distractions and smoke screens, not in spite of any of his “actions.”

Nazi brown jackets have been replaced by red hats, and I do not make that accusation lightly. I am not alone in my assessment.

If Trump’s young son was my patient, and thank God he is not, I would be required to report my concerns to the Administration of Children’s Services for suspicion of child abuse. Whether they would accept the case or not remains to be seen, but protecting children, particularly whose parents are abusive to one another, is one of the grounds for intervention. Who knows what Melania Trump is dealing with at this time?

On July 15, we will be back at Trump Tower for another impeachment march, Please check to see where the sister marches will be and join when and where you can. We need to speak loud and clear so our voices raise above the Twitter rabble distracting everyone from the danger, and the task at hand.

Believe me, none of wanted to be standing in the concrete canyons in 90 degree heat. My long holiday weekend was ruined, but like the others, we knew we had to be there. And we’re going to keep going to these rallies and marches until Trump is out of office.

Fellow Soulie and author friend of mine, Carole Ann Moleti is revealing her latest cover on my blog today! Check out the third book in her series of ghostly-themed paranormal romances set in Cape Cod (one of my favorite places!).